Mealworm farming

[onafixedincome]

I just ordered in some 40,000 mealworms to get started again--my young Seramas cleaned me out of everything from last year and were looking for more (of course!). I split the load into about 12 bins (they're about 18x24? or so) and put enough to cover the bottom in each, then added wheat bran. Added carrots a day or two later and wow! did they disappear quickly!

Already getting pupae, setting up another bin for those to hatch in, and will rotate the current bins as they empty of larva to become beetle bins. I go through and move beetles to new bins about once a month, which gives them plenty of time to lay lots of eggs, and add new-hatched beetles as I go to keep the numbers somewhat constant. The old beetle bins (now egg bins) get set aside to hatch out, and after six weeks and most larvae are about the same size, nothing super small showing me new hatch, I feed them out and/or set some aside for pupation (biggest and healthiest only for that), and toss the remainder of the substrate on the garden or let the chickens go through it before doing that.

You're going to lose SOME, no matter what. You just have to manage to lose as few as you can, is all.

And I will add, once again, PLEASE, people, when you work with your worms, WEAR A MASK. It's no fun being on an inhaler and having to watch myself for pneumonia constantly each time I forget, so learn from me--WEAR THAT MASK!!!!

 

[BScott03]

Its the bottom surface you need to consider. No shallower than 3" with plastic sides they can not crawl up. I use an 8" high bin without a lid so I can pile it up with fresh bedding and greens w/o any escapees.

For 3000 growing worms I would go with at least 3" deep of bedding: I use ground oatmeal. Its super cheap in the big bag at Cosco. Old fashioned oats as quick oats wick up too much of the moisture from the water sources, while old fashioned oats are more resistant to hydration.
Anything with abt. 2 square feet of floor space will work. 12x24: 16x20 - something along those lines. Once you feed off some of the mature worms and get cycling you'll be able to support many, many more worms. Micro worms take up much less space and fewer resources than a mature one.
Remember when starting a new bin you have ZERO moisture in the oatmeal to start off. It will be like desert conditions for the mealworms. Be sure to keep plenty of moisture foods available the first month until the bedding itself begins to retain enough traces of moisture to raise the humidity level in the bin.
Have fun

Thank you soooo much! I'm headed to the dentist (yuck) then to get supplies for my worms! Yay! My almost a week old chicks are so obsessed with yogurt right now so I guess I better stock up on that too

 

[ic46750]

So why and how are you feeding the yogurt to your chicks? Have been feeding boiled egg yikes,to mine. Bill

 

[gaitngirl]

Well, I had separated the pupa from the rest of the bin 2 nights ago. I checked on them this morning and there were 14 new beetles. With the others that have transformed (I'm sure there's a scientific term for when a pupa becomes a beetle but I just can't think of it right now, lol) I must have nearly 50 beetles now

. There were at least another dozen pupa in the mealie bin, too, so I added them to the pupa bowl. I also added a small slice of carrot to the bowl the pupa are in - I'm not sure but it looked like one of the new beetles was chowing on one of the pupa. Possibly for the moisture . . .
It finally feels like the ball is starting to roll now! I'm going to pick up one, maybe two, 3 drawer bins today and get that going. I may try the screen in the bottom of the beetle tray for eggs and micros to fall through to the larva tray and see how that works. From the posts I've read, it seems as though people have a lot of success both ways - with or without the screening. I'm starting to see a layer of frass on the bottom of the bin they are all in now. I don't want to remove it yet because there are sure to be eggs and/or micros in it. I really want to try adding some to my red wiggler bins to see how they do with it but I'm just going to have to be patient, lol.

 

[gaitngirl]

I give mine to the chickens (and chicks) right in the yogurt container. They love it! I also give them warm oatmeal in the winter months. I will be adding mealies to the oatmeal mix this winter

. I already know that is going to go over well. It's going to be like Mad Max beyond Thunderdome in the coop . . . but with 3 or 4 dozen chickens!!!

 

[gaitngirl]

Also, I was very excited to find a 50 lb. bag of wheat bran for $13.99 - finally! The TSC had no clue what it was when I called them to see if they carried it . . . another feed store did have a couple bags in stock, though.

 

[BScott03]

So why and how are you feeding the yogurt to your chicks? Have been feeding boiled egg yikes,to mine. Bill

I just mix it with their starter! They love it! And boiled eggs too!

 

[acreed]

So why and how are you feeding the yogurt to your chicks? Have been feeding boiled egg yikes,to mine. Bill

I just put yogurt in a bowl if it ever goes out of date and they gobble it up! They love it! I figured it was good for us so it shouldn't hurt them.

 

[Lacy Blues]

So why and how are you feeding the yogurt to your chicks? Have been feeding boiled egg yikes,to mine. Bill

Why? Beneficial bacteria in the gut... goes above and beyond medication. It's fantastic as a preventive and completely natural. You can spoon it out into their feed, on top of their feed, or in the dish alone and they'll scramble for it. Some birds never develop a taste for it, my one that was like that, I had to mix it throughout his food or he would eat everything else and leave the yogurt. I knew it was extremely good for him and he was the only one that was ever like this. I start them on it when they are babies and in 99.9% of the cases, they all love it!

It's best to use unsweetened, plain yogurt with several types of bacteria. The sugar that is added to yogurt for human consumption actually kills off most of the bacteria so its not doing a heck of a lot of good to feed or eat it yourself. You can accustom yourself to eating it plain and unsweetened, just takes time and determination. I started out by mixing the yogurt with unsweetened applesauce and a dash of cinnamon. Now, I can eat the yogurt plain without anything added.

 

[BScott03]

Meal worms should be here tomorrow!!!!! Got a 17x24 plastic tub and got my crimped oats filled 3" deep!